LL83: Learned League

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classicroadster
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by classicroadster »

For the corundum question, my thoughts were it's probably ruby or emerald so I'll just go with emerald. Those 3 points cost me a win 3(3) - 5(3). Got Cornwallis as to me Yorktown is the greatest thing of note from VA in the revolution, SVU cause its everywhere and even though I've never seen it WECIB, and Kingston thinking its bigger than Nassau I would guess (turns out 1.2 million v. 300k so quite a difference). You could've given me all 9 of the Tracy/Hepburn films and I wouldn't have gotten it. Isoceles? No chance, even though I am a civil engineer and have taken so many math classes I am horrible at terms...can't we just get an equation to solve??
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Woof
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Woof »

Yesterday was a classic application of what my pub trivia partners have dubbed the “Abner Doubleday” rule (so-named because of a painful miss in a pub trivia round years ago). The rule is that, when you don’t know the answer but do know one pertinent fact about the question put that pertinent fact down even if there’s no obvious connection. In this case, I had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles, and only knew of one British General in the Revolutionary War, so put Cornwallis with dim hope for success. :mrgreen:
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triviawayne
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by triviawayne »

I really hate to admit this...

YIL (Yesterday I Learned) that although I toured the USS Yorktown as a 9 year old kid...the Battle of Yorktown took place in Virginia, not South Carolina :lol:


The things that sometimes get stuck in our heads when we're young that we just can't shake.

I got it right anyway as I just didn't have another person to guess, and until I submitted and looked it up, I kept thinking what the frack happened in Virginia that same year that might have been more significant...
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This Is Kirk!
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by This Is Kirk! »

classicroadster wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:05 am For the corundum question, my thoughts were it's probably ruby or emerald so I'll just go with emerald...Isoceles? No chance, even though I am a civil engineer and have taken so many math classes I am horrible at terms...can't we just get an equation to solve??
I had it down to emerald, ruby, and sapphire and was sure I'd manage to pick the odd man out, but I didn't (put ruby).

Don't recall of ever hearing the term "isosceles" referring to anything other than a triangle before yesterday.
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Volante
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Volante »

This Is Kirk! wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:07 am
classicroadster wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 8:05 am For the corundum question, my thoughts were it's probably ruby or emerald so I'll just go with emerald...Isoceles? No chance, even though I am a civil engineer and have taken so many math classes I am horrible at terms...can't we just get an equation to solve??
I had it down to emerald, ruby, and sapphire and was sure I'd manage to pick the odd man out, but I didn't (put ruby).

Don't recall of ever hearing the term "isosceles" referring to anything other than a triangle before yesterday.
I knew ruby was a special color variant of either emerald or sapphire, so luckily only one was asked for. I would've botched it if both were asked for (ruby+emerald)
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by RandyG »

I expected Special Victims Unit to play much harder. From the wording, mimicking the opening spiel, it seemed to be pointing to accepting the full wording only, not SVU. (Might have created a stink within LL, if so, but still.) Hence, taking a chance of giving a 3 to someone with a low Television history didn't work out too well.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by econgator »

Woof wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:30 am In this case, I had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles, and only knew of one British General in the Revolutionary War, so put Cornwallis with dim hope for success. :mrgreen:
Ditto for the trapezoid, but I couldn't come up with anything better. The only other British Generals I could think of ware Gage and Howe, but neither had any real effect in 1781.
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Lefty
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Lefty »

econgator wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:43 am
Woof wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:30 am In this case, I had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles, and only knew of one British General in the Revolutionary War, so put Cornwallis with dim hope for success. :mrgreen:
Ditto for the trapezoid, but I couldn't come up with anything better. The only other British Generals I could think of ware Gage and Howe, but neither had any real effect in 1781.
Burgoyne (Saratoga) is another name to know. Those four should suffice most of the time, I'd think. I remembered Cornwallis's story wasn't done with the end of the war, though I can't say I remember any movies about him.

I was lucky they only asked for one gem, though at the time I might have been willing to gamble and demand two from everybody. I realized also I didn't know the difference between corundum and carborundum (aluminum oxide and silicon carbide; now I know. And the latter is used to fake diamonds).

I guessed "symmetrical" trapezoid, which still sounds pretty good to me.

I looked up my Buckner history the other day and I've yet to take part in such a match, after 700-odd opportunities.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by twelvefootboy »

I sympathize with my opponent in a 2(2)-1(2) win. She burned the 3 and 2 on my strongest categories, Am. History and Math, and I took the gaspipe on both of them. Couldn't pull the Redcoat from 8th grade brain cell. NHO Isoceles as a trapezoid type, but I should have produced it as a studied WAG.

Put me in the clueless 10% that have heard of SVU but no familiarity with the monologue presented. It sounded like the prelude to the disgusting vice squads of the MAGA era that preyed on consenting adults and entrapment.

Meanwhile I lucked into the Geography answer because I know a Jamaican track athlete and that English is the official language (internet sez that a Creole variant is most common with natives). I wasn't sure about Kingston = capital but I've got no plan B.

Although I'm an amateur mineralogist and professional ceramist, I've always been forgetful if emerald was another variant of alumina. But I just read some articles recently about beryllium minerals and their distribution, so no ambiguity.
Lefty wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:30 pm I realized also I didn't know the difference between corundum and carborundum (aluminum oxide and silicon carbide; now I know. And the latter is used to fake diamonds).
Maybe you are thinking of cubic zirconia for the faux diamonds? SiC is an incredible, and completely man-made material widely used in abrasives and technical ceramics (and it is grayish-black). It is harder than any other natural material except diamond, and only a few man-made materials are harder than it is (Boron Carbide is the only important one - the rest are novelties :)).

The Carborundum name is from the Niagara Falls company that produced it using cheap electricity to fire lighting bolts into mixtures of ingredients to produce the high temperature compounds with carbothermic reduction. Sorry to use the sexist term "man-made", but "synthetic" just doesn't do it justice to how these compounds are non-existent in all of the rest of the universe. Humans are making things everyday that God hath not wrought.
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Volante
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Volante »

twelvefootboy wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:15 pm Put me in the clueless 10% that have heard of SVU but no familiarity with the monologue presented. It sounded like the prelude to the disgusting vice squads of the MAGA era that preyed on consenting adults and entrapment.
I didn't get it from the monologue presented, but I am familiar with the monologue of parent series Law & Order which was similar enough.
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gnash
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by gnash »

RandyG wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:32 am I expected Special Victims Unit to play much harder.
I got it, despite never seeing a single episode, and TV being my worst category by far. It was just one of those "what else could it be" questions.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Vermonter »

Woof wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:30 amI had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles
Math is my strongest category and this was still an educated guess for me — I figured if you extended the non-parallel sides, you'd get an isosceles triangle. Normally I'll stick 3 on any math question I'm unsure about, but I thought it might be one of those Commonwealth terms, so I gave boson the 2 :lol:

Thanks to my mediocre film knowledge, the only possibilities I could come up with for the film question were Astaire/Roberts, Hepburn/Tracy, and Bacall/Bogart. I figured the clue was pointing to a big movie for their ninth and final co-starring, and I remembered something about Hepburn not watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? because Tracy had died before it was released. Score another one for ignorance: I thought the first pair had done 20+ films together, but turns out they had only 10.
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Volante
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by Volante »

Vermonter wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:57 pm
Woof wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:30 amI had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles
Math is my strongest category and this was still an educated guess for me — I figured if you extended the non-parallel sides, you'd get an isosceles triangle. Normally I'll stick 3 on any math question I'm unsure about, but I thought it might be one of those Commonwealth terms, so I gave boson the 2 :lol:

Thanks to my mediocre film knowledge, the only possibilities I could come up with for the film question were Astaire/Roberts, Hepburn/Tracy, and Bacall/Bogart. I figured the clue was pointing to a big movie for their ninth and final co-starring, and I remembered something about Hepburn not watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? because Tracy had died before it was released. Score another one for ignorance: I thought the first pair had done 20+ films together, but turns out they had only 10.
I thought Taylor and Burton...also 10 (plus a TV movie). Much more compressed time span tho
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by classicroadster »

At some point, the Koin becomes a coin right? Right? Looking back this season I'm now 0-4 on coin flips, yesterday missing on Copenhagen/Oslo. I was pretty sure Bohr was one or the other but picked the wrong one. Proud to get LA Kings knowing very little about bible books but I am able to name all of the Big 4 teams and it and Saints were only ones that even rang a vague bell. I'm a little surprised it played as the easiest question yesterday.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by econgator »

classicroadster wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:37 am At some point, the Koin becomes a coin right? Right?
Nope! That's why it's a Koin.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by boson »

Vermonter wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:57 pm
Woof wrote: Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:30 amI had nothing better than isosceles, which I’d only ever seen in the context of triangles
Math is my strongest category and this was still an educated guess for me — I figured if you extended the non-parallel sides, you'd get an isosceles triangle. Normally I'll stick 3 on any math question I'm unsure about, but I thought it might be one of those Commonwealth terms, so I gave boson the 2 :lol:

Thanks to my mediocre film knowledge, the only possibilities I could come up with for the film question were Astaire/Roberts, Hepburn/Tracy, and Bacall/Bogart. I figured the clue was pointing to a big movie for their ninth and final co-starring, and I remembered something about Hepburn not watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? because Tracy had died before it was released. Score another one for ignorance: I thought the first pair had done 20+ films together, but turns out they had only 10.
I've never heard of an isosceles trapezoid either. Though I thought my guess of thrombus sounded pretty cool. I knew it was going to be Hepburn/Tracy but ended up writing Hepburn/Grant because that's how an imperfect brain works.

After yesterday's match, I have to hand in my passport, poutine and hockey cards as I missed the Canadian geography question. I thought Northwest Territories were bigger than Nunavut, but the boundary is further West than I thought. Fortunately, that earned me an undeserved 9(5)-9(6) tie with teapot. I wasn't so lucky in the public rundle though.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by gnash »

boson wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:18 pm I thought Northwest Territories were bigger than Nunavut, but the boundary is further West than I thought.
Nunavut includes most of the Arctic islands. Since the clue specified it was largest by far, there wasn't any other possibility.
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by gnash »

econgator wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:43 am
classicroadster wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:37 am At some point, the Koin becomes a coin right? Right?
Nope! That's why it's a Koin.
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triviawayne
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by triviawayne »

gnash wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:34 pm
econgator wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:43 am
classicroadster wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:37 am At some point, the Koin becomes a coin right? Right?
Nope! That's why it's a Koin.
How do you spell the one where you agonize trying to decide between Elton John and Billy Joel, only to discover that the answer is Stevie Wonder?
same way, but the Koin lands on its edge
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triviawayne
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Re: LL83: Learned League

Post by triviawayne »

classicroadster wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:37 am At some point, the Koin becomes a coin right? Right? Looking back this season I'm now 0-4 on coin flips, yesterday missing on Copenhagen/Oslo. I was pretty sure Bohr was one or the other but picked the wrong one. Proud to get LA Kings knowing very little about bible books but I am able to name all of the Big 4 teams and it and Saints were only ones that even rang a vague bell. I'm a little surprised it played as the easiest question yesterday.
padres, angels?

I went through all the leagues, putting down every team name. It wasn't until the 2nd Kings name I came up with when I realized Kings was a book of the bible, and that explained why city was necessary as well as nickname.
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